Bangladesh: Raising Tobacco Taxes in FY 2022-2023

This Fact Sheet was developed by tobacco control partners from Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, The Union, Vital Strategies, the World Health Organization, and Tobacconomics. The fact sheet discusses the current tobacco tax structure in Bangladesh and finds that imposing a 65% excise tax and increasing the minimum price across all brands would reduce the prevalence of smoking from 15.1% to 14.0% as 1.3 million adults would quit and 895,000 youth would not initiate use. In the long-term, raising cigarette taxes would save 445,000 current adults and 448,000 current youth from premature death. Aside from its impact on public health, this recommendation would generate BDT 396 billion in tax revenue, 30% more than the current tax revenue. Increasing cigarette prices on low-tier brands will discourage smokers who smoke higher-price cigarettes from switching down (substitution) to lower-tier brands. The fact sheet presents a set of recommendations for policy makers in Bangladesh to reap the benefits of effective cigarette tax policies. 

Learn more about the model used in the corresponding Technical Note.